Folding box provided with a reclosable opening

Abstract: A box or holder to dispense products contained therein, is formed by a single die-cut element, which is folded and glued to form the body of a box which is re-sealable after being filled with its contents; after it has been opened to remove the contents, the assembled box presents an opening (12) which extends to one or more sides of the box and is re-sealable by means of a flap (10) which is an extension of one side of the box and which can be folded and attached to the box itself.

Description: The present invention relates to a box or holder to contain and dispense products. In particular, the present invention relates to a box to contain and dispense medicines, cosmetics or similar products which are already contained in some form of primary packaging e.g. in phials, ampules, blister-packs or similar containers. In accordance with a known technique, such products are generally put on sale inside boxes or holders also containing, in the case of medicines, an information leaflet giving the dose and other information. The European Patent Application No. A-0430013, filed on 19.11.1990 with Italian priority of 30.11.1989, in the name of Grafiche Eikon, describes a box or holder for medicines or similar products, without information leaflets and in which one side of the box extends as a folding flap which can be non-permanently attached to the outside of one of the sides of the same box. The information from the information leaflet is reproduced on said movable flap of the box. The presently known boxes all have a problem of interior access, e.g. when the contents have to be checked for integrity and completeness at the moment of sale. Similarly, all the contents, ampules in their racks or blister-packs, must be removed each time a single dose has to be removed to be administered or taken. US-A-4,284,197 discloses a box, the upper portion of which forms a "cap" comprising the top side of the box and three lateral sides. This "cap" is pivotable and, when closed, overlaps to corresponding three lateral sides of the box. A portion of one of these sides is attached to a side of the "cap" and may be removed upon lifting of the "cap". US-A-5,123,589 discloses a recloseable package box for developed photographic prints or similar flat articles, having length and height substantially greater than its thickness when erected. The box has an open top and a top closure panel attached at each end corner of its free edge to the box body; the attached corners are defined by preset rupture lines to permit opening of the closure panel. An object of the present invention is to overcome the above mentioned problems by means of a box or holder with improved accessibility. This object is achieved by the present invention, which relates to a box or holder according to claim 1. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a part of one of the sides of the body of the box is attached to the closure flap and a line of perforations allows it to be detached from the body of the box when the closure flap is raised to open the box. The removal of laid part completes the formation of the opening giving access to the interior of the box. According to another aspect of the invention, the closure flap is temporarily attached to the body of the box by glueing an extremity of the flap defined by a line of pre-set detaching perforations in the flap for the detachment of the same flap from the body of the box. The box according to the present invention offers obvious advantages on the present state of the art; in addition to an increased accessibility to the interior of the box, the presence of the tear-off glued extremity of the closure flap constitutes an anti-tamper device without impeding closure of the box once it has been opened. Furthermore, the closure flap can be printed with information relating to the product e.g. the ingredients in the case of sweets or food products, or the contents of the information leaflet, thus obviating the need for the latter, in the case of pharmaceutical products. The invention will now be described in more detail, with reference to the attached illustrative but non-limitative drawings, in which: figs. 1 and 2 are respectively a plan view of a die-cut element, and a perspective view of a box according to the invention. figs. 3 - 5 are plan and perspective views of another embodiment of the invention. With reference first of all to figs.1 and 2, the box according to the invention consists substantially of a die-cut element, preferably in cardboard, of a type normally used as commercial container for medical, cosmetic and similar products usually already in a primary pack e.g. a blister pack (for pills, tablets and similar products) or phials. Naturally, it is not intended that protection be limited to only those products mentioned above. Furthermore, it should be noted that by the term "die-cut element" is intended any element obtained by press die-cutting, regardless of the material in which it is made, as well as similar shapes obtained by other techniques such as stamping. The die-cut element 1 of fig.1 presents a plurality of sides 2 -6 which together form the body of the box assembled in an already known manner. In particular there are two longitudinal sides 2 and 3, and two transverse sides 4 and 5; the remaining side 6 is attached by glue to the side 3 to form the body of the box, which is re-sealable by gluing wings 8 together, or by tucking in tongues 9 shown by broken lines in fig. 1 and the wings 8. As it can be seen, a part 7 of the side 3 has been cut out and forms an opening to the interior when the box is assembled. Said opening can be re-sealed by means of a flap 10 which extends from side 6 and can be attached to side 3 of the box. The opening 12, which is formed when the box is assembled and opened, could exactly correspond to the cut-out portion 7 (extending also to both sides of the body of the box - figs. 3 and 4) or could be formed by the removal of part 7 and the removal of a further part of one or more sides of the body of the box. This latter solution is shown in the embodiment of figs 1 and 2. In the case of figs. 1 and 2, the flap 10 is an extension to, and an integral part of side 6, i.e. there are no separating fold-lines; side 6 and flap 10 form a single whole. As described above, side 6 is attached to the remaining end side 3 of the die-cut element 1 to form the body of the box; in particular, side 6 is glued to the outer area 3a of side 3. Said area 3a is defined with respect to the rest of side 3 by perforation lines 13 and in part by the cut-out portion 7, such as to cause area 3a to tear away from the remaining side 3 when the box is opened (Fig.2) thus forming a larger opening 12 than the cut-out 7 alone. According to another embodiment of the invention, not shown, area 3a of side 3 could include the area corresponding to the cut-out 7. In other words, there would not be any cut-out 7 in said embodiment; the opening 12 would be formed by area 3a being torn away when the box is opened. The embodiment shown in figs. 3 - 5 is similar to that of figs 1 and 2, with the difference that in this case the closure flap is composed of three elements 10a, 10b and 10c. The first of these, 10a, corresponds to the flap 10 integral with side 6 described in fig.1. Since the closure flap extends to three sides of the body of tile box, the closure elements 11 and 15 are attached to side 2 of the box instead of side 3 as in fig. 2. Independent of the shape of the opening 12 or the closure flap of the same, the closure flap preferably presents means of attachment which can removably attach it to the underlying side of the body of the box up to the box opening. According to the preferred embodiment shown in figs. 1 - 5, said means consist of a plurality of glue points or glue zone(s) 14, which attach the outer area 11 of the closure flap to the underlying side - side 3 in fig. 2 - of the box. Said glue zone is defined by a line of perforations 15 which allows the closure flap 10 to be torn away from its outer edge 11 which remains glued to the body of the box. The remaining part of the closure flap, presents further means of attachment so that it can be attached in a non-permanent way to the body of the box. Said means consist e.g. of portions of a pressure adhesive of the replaceable type or, as shown in the figures, of a slot 17 cut into the body of the box, preferably surmounted by a cutaway to facilitate its use, and a projecting tab 16 on the outer edge of the closure flap. Furthermore, to facilitate the tearing of the closure flap from the fixed part 11, the corners of the same are preferably notched at 16a. If desired, the internal part of the closure flap, regardless of how it is produced, could carry instructions about the use of the product which could replace or complement any information leaflet in the pack.

Claims: A box or holder of the type consisting of a single die-cut element (1) folded and glued to form the body of a box comprising first (3) and second (2) longitudinal sides first (4) and second (5) transversal sides and a terminal side (6), a flap (10) extending from one of said sides (6) and being folded over to another of said sides (3, 3a) that is provided with at least an access opening to the interior of said made-up open box, characterized in that said closure flap is an extension of said terminal side (6), said flap and said first longitudinal side (3, 3a) are located at opposed ends of the die-cut element, and said flap is directly superimposed and fixed to said first longitudinal side (3, 3a) of the box in correspondence of a part (3a) of said side (3, 3a) defined by pre-set rupture lines (13), said part (3a) being detached from the remaining part of said side (3) when said closure flap (6, 10) is opened to form in whole or in part said access opening. A box according to claim 1, characterized in comprising a first part (7) cut out from the die-cut element on said first longitudinal side (3, 3a) of the body of the box, a second part (3a) of said side (3), adjacent to said first die-cut part (7), defined with respect to the remaining part of said side (3) by pre-set rupture lines (13), said second part being attached to said closure flap (6, 10) to be removed from said side (3) of the box together with said flap (6, 10) when said flap is opened in order to form said access opening. A box according to claim 2, characterized in that said terminal side (6) of the die-cut element is fixed to said second, detachable part (3a) of said first longitudinal side (3, 3a). A box according to any previous claim, characterized in that said opening extends to two adjacent sides of the box and said external closure flap is formed by at least two folding elements (10a-10c). A box according to any claim 1 to 4, characterized in that said closure flap (6, 10) comprise two further parts (10b, 10c) and extends over three sides of said body of the box. A box according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said closure flap (6, 10) is temporarily attached by attachment means to the underlying side of the body of the box. A box according to claim 6, characterized in that said attachment means comprises glue point(s) (14) between the outer edge (11) of said closure flap (6, 10) and the underlying side of the body of the box, a pre-set rupture line (15) defining the glue point(s) of the flap with respect to the remaining flap (10) for its detachment from said flap upon opening of the box, as well as further means (16, 17) for temporarily attaching said non-glued flap extremity to the body of the box. A box according to claim 7, characterized in that said means of non permanent attachment of said closure flap comprise a slit (17) cut into said body of the box near said glued extremity of the closure flap. A box according to any claim 1 to 8, characterized in that said closure flap is temporarily attached by means of strips of pressure adhesive of a re-sealable type . A box according to one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that said closure flap has one or more notches (16a) in correspondence to said pre-set rupture line (15) to facilitate gripping the flap.

Inventors: RESTA ALESSANDRO, RESTA, ALESSANDRO
Applicants: EIKON GRAFICHE SRL, GRAFICHE EIKON S.R.L.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B65D5
IPC codes: B65D5